Flight attendant VEO requests

[Hatu]

DALLAS (AP) -- American Airlines says it expects to avoid laying off any flight attendants
after 2,205 of them signed up for severance payments.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aa-says-wont-lay-off-163253910.html

 

[jersey777]

Bruce hicks says new hires by the end of THIS year.

 

[eolesen]

In half-seriousness, maybe some of those being laid off in other workgroups should be given the opportunity to interview once the hiring starts...

 

[IORFA]

What's stopping them from applying?

 

[eolesen]

Nothing but their pride, perhaps?

It's a way to keep travel, and perhaps do something totally different than you've done before.

 

[jimntx]

Oh, yeah. That's the way to improve customer service. Hire someone that you've just screwed out of a job that paid $30/hr or so for every hour they were on duty. In the new job, they have to be on duty 140 hours or more to get paid for 70 hours--which is the monthly guarantee. Your condescension and pomposity is breathtaking at time.

 

[eolesen]

Your condescension and pomposity is breathtaking at time.

So is your lack of faith in people being able to do a job, Jim...

Didn't you take a five-figure pay cut to be a FA?

Ignoring from your piss-poor attitude from the past two or three years, you once seemed to think the job was worth doing. Funny how you've become the very people you used to openly mock.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

In half-seriousness, maybe some of those being laid off in other workgroups should be given the opportunity to interview once the hiring starts...

I think that is a great idea. Why not offer the laid off Tulsa mechanics jobs as F/A's. Keep them on the payroll as they are trained. They keep their company seniority for vacation and start at the bottom of the F/A list. Mechanics already know all the safety features of an aircraft.

You would also have the AMT still on the payroll when they are needed to come back to a maintenance position. They could maintain their health care, and would not have to look for a job.

If the unions would work together and develop a proposal, this could work....I digress... :blush:

 

[nbmcg01]

Why would a mechanic want to do a mechanic's job as a f/a...class or craft is very protected. You want to start union warfare? Different skills. Just curious, are there going to be any f/as left in RDU?

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

Why would a mechanic want to do a mechanic's job as a f/a...class or craft is very protected. You want to start union warfare? Different skills. Just curious, are there going to be any f/as left in RDU?

They would not do a mechanic's job as a F/A. They would leave the mechanic rank and enter the F/A. They retain seniority on the mechanic list.

We had people at NWA that went from F/A to mechanic, and mechanic to pilot.

 

[IORFA]

Yes RDU will still have F/A's left, they go from 79 - 52. Just increase the hours and proffer for 10 - 15 and they are back to full speed. Plus, they all aren't leaving tomorrow!

 

[jimntx]

So is your lack of faith in people being able to do a job, Jim...

Didn't you take a five-figure pay cut to be a FA?

Ignoring from your piss-poor attitude from the past two or three years, you once seemed to think the job was worth doing. Funny how you've become the very people you used to openly mock.

Oh, I'm as good as I ever was on the airplane, and I have the Applause certificates and the passenger letters of commendation (got another just last week) to prove it. But, don't expect me to believe a word management or you have to say. From my experience in major industry, I would say that there is nothing that AMR management could do or say to regain the trust and support of the front-line employees. Can you tell me of a company where that was true that the company survived without a total change in management or employees? Talk to some of the employees who are former Pan Am or Eastern. They all say the same thing..."We've sung this song before. We've danced this dance before. And, the final verse is very sad."

The company is trying to get pilots to take airplanes that have totally inop cabin air conditioning packs. Even if they were willing to do so, how many of those passengers would rebook on AA after flying DFW-SAN with no air conditioning? A friend was working DFW-PHX flight the other night. Due into PHX at 1900. Not only were there inop a/c packs, when they taxied out on one engine, they couldn't get the other engine started. (Not uncommon with S80s.) Had to taxi back to the gate and wait for a starter replacement part to be found and installed. Finally arrived PHX at 0030. How happy do you think those passengers were?

As a Dilbert cartoon once said..."Our new company logo is a man being flushed down the toilet. Our new company motto is Hide during the day. Forage at night." The next downsizing will be accomplished by passing out baseball bats and letting the employees decide who goes and who stays.

Oh yes, I took a major pay cut (if you just look at job pay) to become a flight attendant. However, my mortgage payment and my car payment do not depend upon my AA paycheck unlike the people you are suggesting as flight attendant new hires. If the new starting pay rate was $20/hr (and I have heard that the company is trying for $18/hr), the monthly guarantee will be $1400/mo gross. If someone was making almost that much or more a week, how do you figure they survive on that? Ah, but I forget. You are a member of the let them eat cake contingent.

 

[nbmcg01]

I can't wait to see the new hires of the future... Either they will be older, retired and just looking for something 'to do' for a few years (no pension problems, no retirement insurance, mature, no maternity/paternity) or they will be HSGs, no college, no work experience. It will all depend how honest the hiring team is about the pay. $20 an hour sounds good if you're just starting a job until you realize it isn't based on a 40hr week.

 

[jimntx]

I have a feeling that the newspaper ads will state the hourly rate, but fail to mention the number of hours guaranteed per month. When I was interviewed in June, 2000, I was told that I got travel benefits for myself immediately upon successful completion of training, and passes for family and friends after 6 months (finish probation).

My newhire class was the first class scheduled to graduate in the month of September, 2000. During the 3rd or 4th week of training, the training manager came into class one day and announced that there had been a change to the travel policy effective September 1, 2000. We would not get travel for ourselves until we successfully completed probation (6 months), and we would get travel for family and friends at 2 years! This was presented to us as a "we just heard of this ourselves" situation.

About a year later, I learned from another flight attendant who used to work in HR that that particular change had been known about since January of 2000, and had been announced to the current employees at that time.

The reality is that they will still get a lot of response to any ad. The public in general still views the job of flight attendant as glamourous. I still get asked often if I ever work the Rome or China or London or (fill in the exotic destination box) flights. And, if you are making $10/hr (for a 40 hour week), even $18/hr sounds good as long as you don't do the math on the guarantee.

 

[kirkpatrick]

In half-seriousness, maybe some of those being laid off in other workgroups should be given the opportunity to interview once the hiring starts...

In full seriousness, those who dropped off the recall list before the extensions should be offered reemployment. That was done at TWA in 1985 when '79 hires dropped off. They had to start over with pay and seniority, but they didn't have but a few months anyway.

MK